Most of all I like Takeshi's Castle on Cable TV, those Japs sure do some painful things in the name of entertainment. I've tried to find a video clip of Skipping Stones (the most deadly of the challenges) but you'll have to take my word for it.

I just watched Zatoichi recently, and it wasn't at all what I'd expected... there was such a level of artistry not only in the storytelling and cinematography, but in the character development and cultural exposition that one finds in this film... not at all what I expected from what's essentially a samurai film.

I'd never seen another Zatoichi film, but to me "Beat" Takeshi completely embodied the role of Zatoichi the blind swordsman. The performance was greatly subdued, but its subtleties are there to be seen and they certainly yield in Zatoichi a complete and sympathetic character. The rest of the cast, as well, is quite terrific in this film, and the whole thing played out as more of an ensemble than I would have expected.

yeah, Takeshi is an interesting guy and he has an interesting history too...

long story short, he started out as this goofy J-TV comedian / personality... then he was in a terrible car crash that almost cost him his life... apparently he suffered severe head trauma... but he bounced back and had an epiphany about film-making... hence his level of artistry... at least, that's the legend...

i haven't seen Dolls yet, but i loved Sonantine and Zatoichi... i'd argue based on what i've seen that Zatoichi is his best film...

I think I mentioned in the London Film Festival thread that I was lucky enough to see Takeshi's a little while ago. Crazy brilliance, I don't think i'll watch it again in a hurry but man what a weird trip he sends you on, some real surreal comedy & bizarro situations, extreme violence (well shootings) that become so repetive & drawn out that they no longer have any impact, he's purposely trying to kill his Yakuza Image and has characters that reflect his frustration at the way some people percieve him.

It's batshit crazy but a good recommendation for a rental if you are a fan.

I have loved all of Takeshis movies so far, especially boiling point. Favorite acting piece though had to be the penultimate scene in Battle Royale when he's shot, appears dead, and wakes up to answer his cellphone. This guy is the king of deadpan comedy.

I love Kitano myself. "Violent Cop" I enjoy although I'm not the biggest fan of, and I remain pissed that "Hana-Bi" doesn't have a Criterion edition.

"Zatoichi" strikes me as the most accessible of his movies and it's the one I use to introduce people to him, since it has all of his touches and style but also loads and loads of brutal ass-kicking.

If you want to see something of his that's REALLY strange, though, you should import "Getting Any?" It's a flat-out comedy that, among other things, makes fun of Japanese film genres and his own image.

How could I not post on this thread?
Can't believe there are no shouts for Kids Return, one of my favourites, or Scene By The Sea.
Was under whelmed by Brother, half hearted effort to crack a foreign market, the whole cheating at dice sequence though had me clapping like a seal.
It's all about Sonatine for me; I first saw Violent Cop in the midst of my John Woo/Hong Kong bullet ballet phase, expecting more of the same, obviously it didn't click immediately. Sonatine made the whole thing fall into place for me. A personal Top 10 movie every time.
Getting Any is a weird kettle of fish, can't get my head round it still.

i saw "Takeshis" at the london film festival the other month and it was amazing, you'd have to know and love his films to understand most of the references. I myself did a dissertation about his work to get my degree. sorry, was that showing off a bit?

colonel_lugz wrote:i saw "Takeshis" at the london film festival the other month and it was amazing, you'd have to know and love his films to understand most of the references. I myself did a dissertation about his work to get my degree. sorry, was that showing off a bit?

colonel_lugz wrote:i saw "Takeshis" at the london film festival the other month and it was amazing, you'd have to know and love his films to understand most of the references. I myself did a dissertation about his work to get my degree. sorry, was that showing off a bit?

Yeah a little bit Any idea if it's getting a limited UK relase?

I believe its getting one in about march, so fingers crossed on that one

One of my favourite scenes of any movie is in Sonatine, where Beat Takeshi, the Japanese equivalent of Bruce Forsyth (for Limeys), or Regis Philbin (for Yanks), has a grin that's overtaken the whole of his face, and then bang! He shoots himself.

Violent Cop is also a brilliant film of his, it's got that Proto-Jay and Silent Bob scene where Takeshi traipses into that bully's house, brushes past his mother, and beats the living shit out of the scumbag teenager.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (the title of which was uttered by Takeshi himself), and I bet if you re-watch it the only jarring scene will be David Bowie trying to pass himself off as a public school-boy. Sorry Thin White Duke/Ziggy, no one's buying it.
Also, brilliant soundtrack by one of my favourite composers, Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also starred in the film).

Boiling Point's good. And the one where he has to take the little kid across a mini-pilgrimage is a change of pace. I saw Brother at a friends house the other day, and let's just say I'm never gonna touch another ladel again. *shudders

keepcoolbutcare wrote:Love his long takes. The Ordell shooting Beaumont scene in "Jackie Brown" is a direct homage. I forget which of his films has a long take of him walking over a curved bridge, but that was pure genius.

ZombieZoneSolutions wrote:yeah, Takeshi is an interesting guy and he has an interesting history too...

long story short, he started out as this goofy J-TV comedian / personality... then he was in a terrible car crash that almost cost him his life... apparently he suffered severe head trauma... but he bounced back and had an epiphany about film-making... hence his level of artistry... at least, that's the legend...

i haven't seen Dolls yet, but i loved Sonantine and Zatoichi... i'd argue based on what i've seen that Zatoichi is his best film...

and his role in Battle Royale was priceless!

the crash story is true, although i seem to recall it was a motorcycle accident. anyway, that's why he has this twitching face in the later films. however, that happened when he was already an acclaimed director.
he started out as one half of comic duo "the two beats" (that's why he's credited as "beat takeshi" in acting roles), did tv and all kinds of other stuff. he also used to have a sports column in one of japan's bigger newspapers, but i don't know if he still does...

kids return is a great film, although he kitano doesn't appear in it. great score, too. there's also a little known comedy he acts in called "kyoso tanjo" (aka "many happy returns") that deals with religious cults and how they take advantage of people. interesting, but not very accessible to western audiences.

Was there not a rumour that he was going to do a second Zatoichi movie? That is personally my favourtie of his, everything in it works so well - from the music reacting to the jokes in it. I usually find that some jokes don't quite work with subtitles, but I was proved wrong in this.

Battle Royale is a brilliant movie as well, his role was more relaxed and it seemed that he releashed playing, generally, a bastard. Allthough I was unsure as to the whole favourite pupil thing, kinda moved towards it being an obsession rather then a favourtism.

Kitano is my hero. I think Takehi's Castle is the most hilarious show ever made. All those people falling from high bridges, doing a backwards Raiders of the Lost Ark by walking up a slide while giant rocks are thrown down to crush them. Never laughed so hard at a show before. And then the final showdown. Shooting at the Count himself with water pistols while Count Takeshi and his emerald guard have a hughe water canon shooting the shit out of the surviving contesters. For they start with 100 and end with like 8.

His films of course are stunningly beautifull. I like his hard and gritty Violent Cop as much as his highly poetic Dolls. But Hana-bi is my favorite of them all. The shot where he and his wife sit at the sea and he walks back (that long shot) to kick those yakuza ass. That shot, brings tears to my eyes. A thing that happens more often these days. Don't know why, but I'm getting an emotional bastard during some films. Anyways, saw Takeshis' last night, put up a review in my iffr 2006 report topic, but I'll post it here as well:

In the review below I shall refer to the real Takeshi in the film as Beat and the alter ego as Kitano. I shall call Kitano 'Takeshi' when I talk about Kitano directing the film.

Takeshis'......follows Beats alter ego named Kitano. Kitano looks a lot like the real Beat and he tries to become an actor himself, with no succes.

Once Kitano meets Beat, Kitano becomes obsessed in becoming Beat. He dreams about it day and night. When he is once again rejected for a part he starts to practice his skills by impersonating the characters Beat played in his movie.

It's an awesome film, but very complex and hard to judge after a single viewing. And I think that without knowledge of his previous work the film is even less accesible then it already is.

Takeshi starts the use of flashbacks, flashforwards, fantasy and reality structure at once. Therefor you're never quite sure if you are watching a flashforward in reality or fantasy. It makes the film instantly confusing. Once you get in to the rythm of the film it starts making sense. But even as a confusing film it is suprisingly funny. With loads of typical Takeshi humor and Getting Any or Kikujiro like sequences.

spoilers

The film starts out with several sequences from Beat's films. Not real Takeshi films but films Beat played as an actor in the film. After that we follow Beat for a while. He goes to a studio where they are rehursing a stageplay. Here Beat meets Kitano we switch sides and start following Kitano. The alter ego of Beat who tries to become an actor.

Kitano dreams about being Beat and starts acting like the persons Beat played in his films. Double gunning all the persons down who where the cause he never got a part for an audition. After that, all those persons keep haunting him and Kitano keeps shooting them. After a magnificent dance scene ala Zatoichi the yakuza shows up again and another massacre follows, Kitano 'Beat'ing them down one by one untill a final showdown at the beach.

In this extraordinary scene he sums up all his previous films in 1 big sequence. Starting poetic and extremly touching like Hana-bi and ending with a complete army of police, samurai and yakuza who all open fire at him. A magnificent action sequence not to be taken serious, or maybe you should. It is very hard to put in to words for I haven't figured it out myself yet.

end of spoilers

Takeshis' goes trough so many genres and dreams within dreams that it's hard to figure out what is realy going on. Even when the story itself is pretty simple. The execution is insane. Highly amusing but also haunting and irritating when you can't figure out why it is there in the first place. Some sequences also continue far too long but it has to be said, no one can stage a bloody shoot out like Kitano.

In the end it looks to me as if Takeshi tries to say that when you have everything as a star in Japan, people are trying to steel it from you. Or as Yoda would say: fame leads to jalousie, jalousie to greed and greed leads to suffering.

John-Locke wrote:Most of all I like Takeshi's Castle on Cable TV, those Japs sure do some painful things in the name of entertainment. I've tried to find a video clip of Skipping Stones (the most deadly of the challenges) but you'll have to take my word for it.

they re-dub and re-edit this show and show it here in the us under the title "MXC" which was shortened from "most extreme elimination challenge", if im not mistaken. its fucking hilarious

im just curious, i havent seen the zatoichi remake, but i am a fan of shintaro katsu, and the original zatoichi flicks. if anyone who has seen this remake has also seen any of the originals, perhaps that person or persons could offer some sort of comparison. how does the new one hold up?

Brocktune wrote:they re-dub and re-edit this show and show it here in the us under the title "MXC" which was shortened from "most extreme elimination challenge", if im not mistaken. its fucking hilarious

I take it the brilliant Craig Charles from Red Dwarf doesn't commentate on your one?

I got a lot of love for Takeshi's Castle, it kinda reminds me of that program that came out a couple of years back, Banzai. Hyper, switch-your-mind-off entertainment at its best. Though some of those bails looked very nasty indeed!

Yeah they show your version of Takeshis Castle here now, it's slightly different but pretty much the same. Not quite as funny as Craig Charles calling them wassocks though.

I get right into it, when they do he one with the cup down the water slide thing I chant the song with the emerald Guard
Something like:

"Um Braaa Um Braa Um Braa"

"Toko Toko Toko"

I'm sure it's way off but what I'm saying is I love the show almost as much as I like his films, and as Hobbit says at the end when they storm the castle Takeshi has it setup so there is no chance in hell they can win, weak ass water pistols that squirt shots compared to high powered cannons for the guard that shoot contstant streams.

You have this game called Knock Knock where they have like 5 walls and each wall has 4 doors. But ya don't know which one is the real one. The door can be a massive wall, or ending in a net. And even the real door needs to be penetrated by jumping on it with all your weight. So they run like crazy on these doors and then BENG. Haha, well, let's just say, it's hilarious. Time for some ridicilous replay.

Warner Japan and Office Kitano are skedded to release the pic next year.

Kitano made his international breakthrough in 1993 playing a gang boss in "Sonatine," and became known for his extreme depictions of violence in pics including "Boiling Point" (1990), "Hana-Bi" (1997) and "Brother" (2000).

Warner Japan and Office Kitano are skedded to release the pic next year.

Kitano made his international breakthrough in 1993 playing a gang boss in "Sonatine," and became known for his extreme depictions of violence in pics including "Boiling Point" (1990), "Hana-Bi" (1997) and "Brother" (2000).

That scene where Beat Takeshi goes into that delinquent kid's house and proceeds to deck the fuck out of him kinda reminds me of Jay & Silent Bob going to each talkbacker's house and doing likewise. It was just so random and unexpected. I still think Sonatine gets me more, though. There's just something about Kitano's smile as he blows his own brains out.

A new gangster film from the guy will be cool. His weird self-referential filmmaking trilogy was strangely entertaining, though. I'm guessing no one mentioned those in the Movies about Movies thread?

EDIT: Figured I'd merge this news here, just as an excuse to bump an old thread. And it looks like I made that exact same Jay & Silent Bob comment back in 2005... Have I really changed that little in 4 years?

I could've been a yakuza: Japan film maker Takeshi Kitanoby Gilles Campion

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese actor-director Takeshi Kitano, who brought the yakuza gangster genre to a global public, says he could have made his life in the underworld had it not been for his mother.

The star of "Violent Cop", "Sonatine" and "HANA-BI" made the revelation in a new book, "Kitano par Kitano" (Kitano by Kitano), written with French journalist Michel Temman and to be released next week.

"If it were not for my mother's strict education, I could easily imagine having become a yakuza myself, because many of my friends in those years ended up becoming yakuza," he told AFP ahead of the book's launch.

"But none of them really managed to get to the top. So if I had become one, I wouldn't have made it very far. I might even be dead now," Kitano added.

"Everyone around me, every friend I grew up with, was a quasi-hooligan. I didn't think it was something special to do things like steal cash from shinto shrines. Every kid in my neighborhood did that."

Acclaimed overseas for action movies that often reveal a bleak outlook on life and human relationships, and wildly popular on TV shows at home as quirky comedian "Beat Takeshi", Kitano grew up living on the edge.

Born in post-war Japan in 1947, Kitano was raised by a poor family in a working-class district northeast of Tokyo. His father, a house painter who gambled and drank, spent little time with his four children.

It was his strong-willed mother who pushed him and his siblings to study. With a passion for mathematics and science, Kitano enrolled in university, only to abandon classes for his other great love, show business.

After making his acting debut on the stage of the "French Theatre" in Tokyo's working-class district of Asakusa, Kitano quickly clinched a spot in a television show under the name "Beat Takeshi".

Since then, Takeshi has become a household name and still appears from time to time on eight weekly TV shows in tandem with his career as a movie director.

Takeshi's television persona is often the opposite of the characters he plays in his movies. Instead of the cool gangster, Kitano plays the obnoxious kid whose bawdy remarks reveal his comedic side.

Responding to critics who call him vulgar, Kitano said: "I am more upset than hurt... (but) from the very beginning of my career as a comedian, I thought to myself that the critics are not to be trusted."

Kitano silenced his detractors with his directing debut, the thriller "Violent Cop", in which he also starred.

He shot to international fame in 1993 with his fourth movie, "Sonatine", devoted to yakuzas, although it was a relative flop in Japan.

The next year Kitano, after a heavy night out, had a brush with death in a Tokyo motorcycle accident that scarred and partially paralysed his face.

"I could have died, but a string of coincidences let me survive," he said.

Energetic Kitano soon went back to work, shooting "Kids Return" (1996) about youths in a poor neighborhood, followed by "HANA-BI" (1997), a poignant love story in the midst of an anti-gang fight, which won him Venice's Golden Lion Award.

In 2003, his movie "Zatoichi", which pays homage to a Japanese classic about a blind swordsman, won him critical acclaim both overseas and in Japan.Apart from his book's publication, other events are planned in France this year on Kitano: a retrospective of his films at the Georges Pompidou Center, and an exhibition of his paintings at the Cartier Foundation.

"I just want to call them kid's paintings, kid's drawings," he said. "If I would say that my paintings are more than a hobby, people would laugh at me."

Liz Shackleton wrote:The 3D version of the original will be ready for market screenings in October and released in Japan on November 20.

Japanese studio Toei is preparing a 3D version of Kinji Fukasaku’s cult action thriller Battle Royale (pictured), which is one of the widest selling movies ever from Japan.

Released in 2000, the gore fest grossed $26m in Japan and sold to 35 territories worldwide. At the time of its release, Japanese politicians attempted to ban the film which depicts a group of delinquent students hacking each other to death on a deserted island.

Fukasaku’s son, Kenta Fukasaku, is supervising the 2D to 3D conversion in Tokyo through this production company Fukasaku-Gumi. Kinji Fukasaku passed away in 2003, so Kenta took over directing duties on a sequel, Battle Royale 2: Requiem, which was released later the same year.

The 3D version of the original will be ready for market screenings in October and released in Japan on November 20. Like the original, the 3D version will have an R-15 rating in Japan.

Toei is also launching sales on Zebraman 2: Attack On Zebra City, a sequel to Takashi Miike’s 2004 hit, starring Show Aikawa and Riisa Naka.

Bob Tourtellotte wrote:Takeshi Kitano unleashed his "Outrage" on the Cannes film festival on Monday, returning to his filmmaking roots with a violent yakuza movie that uses just about anything as a tool to murder, including chopsticks.

Film

"Outrage," which tells of a bloody gang war among rival factions of Tokyo's Sanno-kai crime gang, is Kitano's first yakuza flick since 2000's "Brothers," and the Japanese actor/writer/director/comedian pulled no punches in dreaming up new ways to kill.

Kitano, better known for his stage name Beat Takeshi, told reporters there were no deep, thoughtful reasons for returning to the gangster genre. He simply wanted to.

"I thought it would be as good a time as any," he said at a Cannes news conference.

But he was quick to add that he wanted to ensure "Outrage" was fresh. To do that, Kitano added loud dialogue between the characters and a fast pace to the action, which contrasts dramatically to his typically bleak and even nihilistic style.

As important, he strived to find ever more gruesome ways to perpetrate violence. In fact, he first created new methods of murder to form the movie's structure, then filled-in the plot.

Where the violence is concerned -- and not to give anything away -- his fans may delight in scenes that include flying fingers, plunging chopsticks, a nasty bit of dentistry and the intertwining of a head, a rope and a luxury sedan.

Beyond the gruesome killing in what Kitano admitted was a "hideously violent movie," there are sharp and loud exchanges among the characters, who in his yakuza films of the past had been mostly stoic and quiet.

Then, there are the actors themselves, who are not his usual troupe of performers but newer faces for a Kitano movie.

"We intentionally decided to work with new people," he said, adding that from the first day on the set he could see that "everyone falls into the right character, and I think my method turned in the right result."

Kitano portrays Otomo, the head of a small clan of thugs who work for the yakuza boss Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura). He, in turn, takes orders from "Mr. Chairman," (Soichiro Kitamura), the powerful leader of the sanno-kai syndicate.

When Ikemoto tangles with another clan boss, Murase (Renji Ishibashi), a gang war breaks out in Tokyo and bullets -- among other things -- begin to fly.

Yakuza tales have been told for decades on film and when asked if, in fact, he wasn't being old-fashioned in returning to the genre, Kitano said, no.

Since the yakuza still existed, they themselves could not be deemed old-fashioned, he said.

He did admit, however, that their ways of making money have evolved, and now encompass computers, communications, stocks and bonds, compared to decades ago when drug running, gambling, prostitution and protection rackets earned them yen.

But the new ways were too sophisticated for Kitano's return to yakuza. Instead, he chose chopsticks.

It is being reported that director Takeshi Kitano (63) has decided to work on a sequel to his most recent movie, "Outrage." The film opened on 155 screens in June, earning 4th place in its opening weekend and grossing 750 million yen so far. Kitano is apparently hoping to capitalize on that success with "Outrage 2," which is aimed for a fall 2011 release.

Early in his directing career, Kitano became known for his violent yakuza films such as "Violent Cop" and "Sonatine." He later took a turn with recent works like "Takeshis'" and "Kantoku Banzai!," but "Outrage" marked his return to yakuza films after roughly a decade.

Kitano spoke highly of the "Outrage" cast, saying that he felt he was able to create an interesting movie. However, he said that upon close analysis, it just barely made the grade in his mind, so he is aiming to make an even more interesting and enjoyable work.

"Outrage 2" will be jointly distributed by Office Kitano and Warner Brothers. The project is still in the preparatory stages, so the story details are unknown at this point, but it is said that Kitano plans to add new big-name cast members.

Patrick Frater wrote:In an interesting sideswipe, Kitano said that he did not enjoy the cartoons of Hayao Miyazaki, the Studio Ghibli founder and cultural icon honored only a day earlier by the festival and Pixar’s John Lasseter. “I really don’t,” Kitano said. “But it is important to recognize other opinions.”